


A Strong Heart

by MoonStarRain



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-17
Updated: 2015-04-20
Packaged: 2018-03-23 09:00:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3762310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoonStarRain/pseuds/MoonStarRain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Beth lives and all the events of 5B still happen, but plot holes and missing timelines are explained further. Lots of Grady character development. Eventual Bethyl.</p><p>*this work is mine, originally posted at my request by the awesome punkskully while I waited for my Ao3 account invite. if you have bookmarked the other version, please bookmark this one as the other one will no longer be updated*</p><p>I don't own The Walking Dead or any rights to its characters and this is my own version of how things could make sense. On that note I'd like to say to Scott Gimple: feel free to use WHATEVER the hell you want from this story for Season 6. This is your one and only pass.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Spark

**Author's Note:**

> This story will be as long as it needs to.

Morgan walks through the streets of downtown Atlanta like he owns the city. In a way he does. For the past month he has been coming here. Challenging the dead. He thinks about how he used to hate going into the city. Hated the traffic. The thing is, there is still traffic, but everything is at a standstill. 

He walks by, opening every car he passes, checking for supplies. Anything that might have been left behind. He's done this dozens of times by now. Almost everything has been picked clean. Not even a stick of stale gum in the glovebox. 

As he rounds a corner, a walkers stumbles into him. The creature seems almost surprised to bump into a living, breathing thing here in the city of the dead. With a mighty force Morgan shoves it to the ground and smashes it's skull with his boot. He looks down at it. "Not today," he says out loud to no one but himself. Today is not his day to go. Not today, seemingly not ever. The weak. The weak are all that's left now to wallow in this mess. 

Looking up, he sees a bloodied firetruck in the distance. Rubbing the sweat from the back of his neck, he looks around. He's been here before and this is the first time he is seeing it. 'Must be going crazy again' he thinks to himself. Maybe it has been here the whole time. He walks up to it, inspecting it with caution. He's expecting it to be just another figment of his deluded imagination. He opens the cab and climbs inside. A few random things litter the front seats. A bag. A sweater. A yoyo. 

A car turns the corner and he stills and ducks down below the dash. People can't be trusted. He looks around, realizing he has next to nothing on him in terms of provisions. But that doesn't stop the living these days. The living are more dangerous than the dead in most respects. They will take everything you have from you- even when you have nothing but the skin on your body. He's seen some things. Heard some things.

Peeking over the dash he realizes that it's not just any car, but a cop car. Atlanta PD. The strangers pull up to an abandoned vehicle a few yards in front of the firetruck. 

A man and a woman dressed in police uniforms get out and look around. They walk up to the blue car, and after a minute of chatter between the two, the female officer opens the door and moves to get into the driver's seat. 

Morgan watches, unsure if this is all just some crazy dream. Cops in Atlanta? It's been nearly 2 years since the turn. He looks around again. Are there more of them? Where did they come from? There are walkers on the streets, but not many. These people don't seem to be too concerned. The female officer attempts to start the car. It sputters but it doesn't turn over. She tries again. After a quick word between the two, the male officer moves back towards their vehicle, reaching inside and popping the hood as well as the trunk. Morgan watches intently as they grab cables and seem to be attempting to jumpstart the car. They pop the hood of the car but after a few seconds and looks of confusion they shut it again. 

"Gonna be in the trunk" Morgan mutters to himself. He moves for just a split second and instantly regrets it. Almost as if in slow motion, he watches as the yo-yo that had been on the seat next to him is knocked down and bounces out of the cab of the firetruck and onto the asphalt below. Instantly both officers turn towards the truck with their guns drawn.

"Who's there?" The female officer looks towards the truck. She motions her partner to follow her. Slowly, they take careful steps towards the firetruck. "Well if they are real..." Morgan thinks to himself. He takes a graceful step out of the cab and presents himself with his hands in the air. No one says anything for a minute and then the female officer speaks up.

"Did you know them?" She asks, her face stoic and firm.

"Know who?" Morgan responds, his face just as tight and unyielding. Clearly they are looking for another group.

The officer motions with her head toward the firetruck and the car. "These people. Were you with them?"

Morgan's face doesn't change. He remains emotionless as he responds, "I don't have people. Just me. Been that way for a while."

The male officer looks around, seemingly expecting an attack at any minute. He's paranoid for sure, but rightly so. Could this man be telling the truth? "Did you see people, a group... About a dozen men and women? Went through here yesterday... There was a herd. We thought... We thought maybe they didn't get out." The male officer looked to his female counterpart out of the corner of his eye.

"They had some... resources. We gave them some of our resources and we thought..." The woman's sentence is interrupted by a walker that had gotten too close. Morgan turns and kills it efficiently with his knife. He cleans the blade and looks back to the woman. 

"Don't know nothing about no group of people." He pauses, they still have their guns raised to him. He decides on a gesture of peace. "But that car." He motions toward the blue car. "Battery is in the trunk."

The officers look at each other again. With their guns still half-raised, Morgan holds their eyes to let them know he isn't going to try anything and slowly walks towards the vehicle to pop the trunk. 

"Battery still works. Heard you trying to turn her. Sounded like she still got some spark." He pushes the button under the driver's seat and the trunk pops open just a bit.  
Morgan moves to the trunk to lift it open completely. "These older cars they,"

All three immediately inhale a sharp breath staring into the trunk.

Laying there, lips still pink and matted blood in her hair, is a blonde girl with a gunshot wound to her forehead. 

The female officer immediately gets on her radio.  
"Tanaka this is Shepard. Find Edwards. Get him on the floor. Get him now!"


	2. Music

"She's still alive!"

Shepard burst through the double doors yelling and frantic, trying her best to explain the sudden urgency to another officer as they rushed down the halls. 

"She was in a trunk. They just left her there. It nust have happened when the herd came. I don't know how she's still alive but... Look at her!" 

Morgan was carrying a lifeless Beth behind her. Reality suddenly kicked in that he was in a hospital. There were cops. These were people. He suddenly began to feel the full weight of the girl and fought off the sensation of panic.

"Dr Edwards!" Shepard yelled. A man in a white coat came out of a room at the far end of the the hall and then began to jog towards them. "Room 10! Get her to room 10!" 

A pair of officers thrust the door with the number 10 open, Morgan following right behind them. Quickly and gently, he set the girl on the hospital bed, stepping back immediately and taking in the mass of scattered instruments and machines that seemed like they were from a world so long ago.

The doctor rushed in and put his stethoscope on the girl's chest. Morgan could barely think. He looked on in disbelief. This girl was shot in the head. They found her in a trunk. Someone had left her in a trunk. How was she still alive?

"I need 10 milligrams of epinephrine! Get me bags of Saline and Dilantin... Somebody start oxygen... start oxygen please! Now!" the doctor shouted as he opened the girls eyelids and checked her pupils for a reaction. 

More people in scrubs started to gather around to see what the commotion was about. A few of them gave their acknowledgment to the doctor's orders and sprinted down the hall. The rest looked on with faces of shock and horror.

Morgan backed out of the room while he too continued to look on in shock. This couldn't be real. This doctor. These people. Was this a dream? He took another step back and bumped into an older man who had stopped outside the room to gawk.

"Sorry," the man blurted, still fixated on watching what was going on. Morgan looked down at this man as if his apology was spoken in a foreign language.

"She was nice..." The man paused. "I hope..." His voice broke and he shook his head. He seemed to be at a loss for words as both he and Morgan looked from afar into the storm of hands and shouts and beeping machines in the room. 

"I hope they can save her." The man swallowed. 

"We need a miracle. This world. This world needs miracles." The old man took one last sad glance towards the room Beth was in before leaving to push a cart down the hall.

Morgan sank against the wall and for the next couple hours just sat and watched as people shuffled in and out of the room. Night came and the doctor never left her side. As if he could feel Morgan's stare, the doctor looked towards him and swallowed. 

Morgan could tell he was hiding something. That was the look of guilt. Morgan continued to stare at him, trying to figure him out. The doctor, Edwards he heard someone call him, looked away, breaking the nervous eye contact. He pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose and turned to check a monitor. 

Sweat started to drip into Morgan's eyes. It was hot. If that girl hadn't died from a bullet in her head she surely wouldn't have escaped the ruthless Georgia heat. Even at night you couldn't escape the sticky ruthlessness of a Georgia summer. 

Morgan got up and began walking the hall, trying to get a grasp for his sudden change in environment. Things had calmed down for the moment. Officer Shepard came walking around the corner, nearly bumping into him. She looked up at him and had a look on her face that made Morgan realize she must have forgotten she brought him here.

"We don't normally... Take people in..." She started. She looked down the hall as if she had somewhere to be but still she didn't move. "But you helped us today. Least we can do is offer you a warm meal."

Morgan looked at her and nodded a silent acceptance. He wasn't going to turn down generosity. And these people seemed alright. Saving an almost dead girl. And they were cops. Cops and doctors. Morgan didn't think there were people like that left in this world.

Shepard held his attention and as another stranger in scrubs passed them she turned and spoke up. 

"Norris. Can you take this man," she looked up at him and paused. She had never gotten his name.

"Morgan. M'name's Morgan."

"Can you take Morgan to the cafeteria? Tell them I said to let him have whatever he wants. He's the one who... " She cleared her throat. "He found Beth with us." She set her mouth in a firm line. 

It made Morgan unsure of what she thought of Beth. Was he being fed because he helped find her or helped save her? Who was that girl? Who was she to these people? They knew her name. More importantly, why was she shot in the head and left in a trunk? A wave of uneasiness suddenly overtook Morgan. He gestured a silent thanks and followed this "Norris" to the corner stairs and down a level to the hospital cafeteria. 

After his meal he made his way back towards the room the girl was being kept in. He stopped when he heard music. A record. He couldn't identify the artist but it was pleasing to his ears none-the-less. Slowly, he stepped into the room. 

The doctor was sitting next to the bed. Next to him on a small table was a record player that hadn't been there before. 

"She gonna make it?" Morgan was curious. There was something about this girl that he couldn't quite pinpoint.

The doctor took his eyes off the girl for the first time. "Don't know. We did what we could." The clock ticked loudly on the wall and Edwards he looked up at it as if every tick was taunting them. "Just have to wait."

"Seems like all we do nowadays. Wait." Morgan paused, remembering something Shepard had said. "Y'all knew her? How it happened? How she got out there?"

The doctor looked back to Beth and took a deep breath. "She was here. She came here. She was leaving when... when it happened. Her people took her. But... There was a herd." He pulled his glasses off and rubbed his temples before continuing. 

"Before all this. I used to get to save people. That's what I always wanted to do. I had just finished my residency here when it all happened. Those first days it was more dangerous to be in a place like this than it was out there. At one point I thought I would get to spend the rest of my life doing something that mattered. Saving lives." He glanced at the machines in the corner hooked up to car batteries. "And then... And then it was a matter of resources. Who we could save. If they were worth saving." He looked up at Morgan with guilt in his eyes and then looked once again to Beth. "As a doctor, you see some things. Some people might call them miracles. I wasn't sure what to call it. But her." Wiping his glasses and motioning to Beth, "There's no other way to explain it. I don't know if she'll even wake up. But this." He rose from his chair to walked to the door, stopping in the door frame for a second, "The world needs small miracles. People like her to pull through. People like her to... Survive." 

He looked back once more into the room and then walked off into the now-dark hall, leaving Morgan alone with Beth. 

The sounds in the room were a strange mixture of music and machine. This girl was gravity. And it seemed like she had a pull on everyone around her.

-:-:-:-:-:-

"Herd've passed by now. We should go back." Rick was speaking low to Carol and Michonne on the edge of the group's camp. They were just outside the city at a warehouse they'd cleared during their time at the quarry.

"Can't risk all of us. I'll stay back. You know he's gonna want to go." Carol motioned in the direction of the woods. "You, Daryl, Michonne, Glenn. Should go tonight. Can be back before dawn." She looked at Michonne who nodded a silent approval. 

The rest of the group sat, solemn around a small fire. Rick approached them and knelt in front of the flames. 

"We're gonna go back. Get her. Be back here before light. Myself, Glenn, Daryl, Michonne... Everyone else stays back."

There were no protests. The group looked around at each other. Carl was holding a sleeping Judith and clutched her a little tighter upon hearing his dad was going back into Atlanta. 

Glenn's eyes scanned the faces of his family before finally settling to where Maggie was, curled up and weeping softly in a sleeping bag not far. He looked down to the dirt. Everyone was grieving in their own way. But Maggie was inconsolable. 

Rick and Glenn got in the car, followed by Michonne. Rick whistled and Daryl approached from where he had been standing in the darkness just beyond the trees. He hadn't slept and looked absolutely defeated. But he climbed in and shut the door, keeping his focus out the window for the time being. Glenn started the car and group headed off to Atlanta. 

Atlanta looked haunted. Hell, it was haunted. The dead owned the city now. After this trip, none of them ever saw a reason to return to this corner of hell on earth. The light of the moon allowed them to easily navigate where the fire truck had broken down. 

A half dozen walkers ambled about the street, turning towards the low rumble of the car engine. Michonne got out and quickly dispatched them. Rounding the firetruck after the last one she stilled. "Rick. Rick stop." She turned to look at them, her face devoid of emotion. 

Rick, Daryl, and Glenn had gotten out of the car and were making their way towards the firetruck when they caught Michonne's hard glare. Looking only at Rick, she forced the words out. The words none of them wanted to hear. "It's gone." She looked to Glenn and Daryl before looking back once again to Rick. "The car. It isn't there."

Instantly Daryl began sprinting towards where they had left the car not even 48 hours before.

"Daryl!" Rick whispered loudly. "Daryl wait!"

Daryl ran a few yards and suddenly stopped in the spot where the car had been. He looked around. 360 degrees around and no sign of it. He was spinning. The world was spinning. Suddenly he let out a growl of anger and frustration and dropped to his knees. "No! No... No, no, no..." A sad whimper was all he could manage as he instantly felt Beth's loss all over again. He smashed his fists against the ground, leaned forward and let his head rest on the asphalt as hot tears fell uncontrollably from his eyes.

Glenn was in shock. No one had been prepared for this possibility. He looked to Rick in confusion. Rick just shook his head and turned away. Things just kept stacking up against them. She was gone. Not only was she gone, but she was gone in the worst way possible. Nothing left. How was he going to tell Maggie? 

Rick, Glenn, and Michonne leaned against the firetruck in silence as Daryl sat in the road. Finally, Rick approached him. 

He bent down and whispered with unsure words, "I know. I know what this..." Rick stopped himself. He let out a sigh. 

In truth, he had no idea. But the sun would be coming up soon and they had to get out of the city. Rick looked around and leaned down once again close to Daryl.

"We gotta go back. Judith, Carl... They ain't safe... We gotta go back..." And with that, Rick left him and walked back towards the car. 

Michonne was still staring at Daryl in the street. She watched him slowly stand before she herself turned to walk back to the car. On her way, she eyed the open can door of the firetruck and stepped over a yo-yo laying on the ground.

The sun was rising just as the group made it back. Daryl immediately got out of the car and slammed the door, stalking off into the woods beyond their campsite.

Carol watched him go and looked to Rick with questioning eyes.

"Made it there. It was..." He put his hands on his hips trying to find the proper words. "Wasn't there. It was just gone."

Carol bit her lip as she looked in the direction Daryl had stormed off and then turned to look over her shoulder to where Maggie was still sleeping. 

It was going to be another rough day.

She put her hand on Rick's shoulder and he nodded. 

-:-:-:-:-:-

Music. There was music. And light. And... Pain. Beth's eyes fluttered open. Her throat was sore. Her stomach turned. She couldn't get up. She felt weak. She tried to sit up but felt herself growing tired. She closed her eyes again and everything faded to gray. To black. Quiet. It was quiet again.

Morgan had woken up and eaten a meager breakfast. He didn't want to overstay his welcome but these people didn't seem to mind his presence, let alone acknowledge him. 

Taking the stairs back up to the main floor he nodded at familiar faces whom he had been introduced to the day before. One of the faces, the doctor who he had spoken to yesterday, looked absolutely exhausted. 

"Morning." Morgan's greeting seemed to have taken him by surprise.

The doctor looked up with red-rimmed eyes and forced a faint smile before mumbling something, setting off in the opposite direction.

Morgan could still hear the record playing in the room with the girl. It was nice to listen to. Didn't hear much music anymore. He set his cup of instant coffee down next to the bed and looked at the girl. Her head was now bandaged. There was also a cast on her arm. She had stitches in two places on her pale face. But this little young thing was still beautiful. 

Morgan smiled as he thought about his late wife. How she had to have been not much older than this girl when he met her during their first year of college. Memories of her smile flashed through his mind. Then he stopped. That was the first happy memory he had had in a long while. 

This girl, she was gravity. She was gravity for goodness. He smiled again and really looked her over. The sun was coming through the blinds and you could already tell it was gearing up to be another hot day in Georgia. 

As the sun's rays tracked their way across the room, Morgan noticed the glimmer of something on the girl's wrist. A metal cross on a bracelet. He focused on it. After a minute he noticed her fingers were moving. He looked up to the girl's face and was met with wide, blue eyes staring right at him.  
He just stared at her in shock.

"Hi," she managed to get out.

"Hi." He forced himself to say. Mouth agape, and still stunned. This girl. This girl he had found not 24 hours ago in a trunk with a bullet to her head-- had spoken to him.

"Can... Can I... Water... Please?" The girl rasped and swallowed hard. 

Morgan nodded his head frantically, getting up and stumbling out of the room. Looking around he found there was no one in the hall. He rushed towards the stairs and ran straight into the doctor again. 

"She... She..." He couldn't get the words out. "Water, she's asking for water."

Dr Edwards looked up at him with confusion. Suddenly he realized who the "she" being referred to was and rushed to Beth's room. 

Stopping at the doorway he was met with what he could only describe as a miracle. Beth was awake. Lazy but bright eyes smiling up at the ceiling.

"I can't remember the last time I heard a record," She breathed out before blinking a few times and finally shutting her eyes, once again falling back asleep.


	3. Remember

Dr. Edwards had made himself comfortable in the chair next to Beth's bed. He'd brought a few more records, a book, and his lunch. The hours passed and it was almost sunset when Beth woke up again.

Her eyes gracefully fluttered open and she softly reached to remove the oxygen mask from her face. She took a deep breath and let her eyes adjust to the dimming light.

"That looks good." She said, eyeing the leftovers on his plate.

He set his book down and gave a faint smile. "You must be starving." He looked at the picked over guinea pig next to him. "Should probably start you out with some broth. I think we might even have some pudding or jello downstairs too."

She faintly smiled back. There was an awkward minute or two as Beth looked around the room. Every time she woke up she was feeling more and more alert, but she didn't attempt to sit up or move much. Her eyes traveled back to Dr. Edwards who was picking at one of his nails and staring down at the floor.

"I don't..." Beth attempted but stopped. She wanted to be careful of her words. "I don't remember everything." She looked at him earnestly. "I remember you, and I remember... A woman. But I don't remember everything."

He looked up at her and for a second he just stared at her blankly. What was he supposed to say? He didn't want to lie to her. But where should he begin?

Suddenly Beth's eyes widened as her mind was interrupted with another memory. "Carol? Is she... Did she make it?"

This time Edwards responded immediately. "Yeah. Yes. You uh... You saved her. She ended up pulling through. You and your people are tough. She even walked out of here on her own." He swallowed. 

Shit. He didn't mean to say that. But Carol wasn't there now so Beth would have found out eventually.

Beth's eyebrows furrowed. She looked like she wanted him to elaborate but instead she simply settled for "Oh."

Edwards looked back down. Another minute of silence and he stood up, grabbing his neglected plate and heading out the door. 

"I'll go grab you something to eat. You're healing quickly, but it's been days since you had a real meal." Oh no. Again. She probably didn't know how long she had been out. He wasn't good at this. He was going to say something wrong. 

He was halfway down the hall when double-backed and poked his head into her room. 

"Do you like chocolate or vanilla?"

"What?"

"If they have pudding- what do you like? Chocolate or Vanilla?"

Beth thought about it for a second. "Chocolate...?" It came out a question because honestly, she had no idea which one she preferred. It was a strange feeling to not know something so insignificant about herself. She banished her worry from her thoughts for now.

Edwards noticed her uncertainty but nodded and set off towards the cafeteria once again.

Beth stretched her arms up and to the sides, making circular motions and trying to get her blood pumping again. She was stiff and sore in a way she had never been before. Her thoughts brought her back to that simple question as she looked out the window. How could she not even remember something so basic about herself? She had pieces but not the whole puzzle. 

She remembered the farm. The barn burning. Lori. Her daddy. Shivering, she shook away the memory from her head. 

This was all giving her a headache. She needed a distraction. Something to get her mind off everything. She turned on her side and reached for the records, picking them up carefully and reading the names of the artist to see if she recognized any of them. Nope. None of them rang any bells. But a record was a record so she picked one out to play. 

She set the rest down and picked up the book Edwards had left on the side table. She opened it and read the brief description on the inside jacket, almost giggling out loud at the premise. The thought of Edwards reading a book about the travels of a father and son in a post-apocalyptic world were a strange thing to read when the dead were lurking right outside these walls.

She sighed as she remembered Rick and Carl. She thought about where they might be. If they were still out there. Where they might be. Of course they were out there she corrected herself. Rick was a survivor. But her breath caught in her throat and she fought off tears thinking about baby Judith. She wiped them away and took a deep breath. 

"We don't get to cry anymore." She whispered to herself. Especially not her. She was alive. She had made it.

She opened the book and began to read Chapter 1.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Morgan looked out into the battered ruins of the once-sprawling cityscape. The world was different up here on the roof. It was almost... Peaceful. He had slept another night at the hospital, but was beginning to go stir crazy and felt his time here would soon end. It wasn't like he had any place in particular to be, he just didn't want to overstay his welcome. If things went south, and they always did, he wanted to make a quick exit.

An officer approached him and offered him a cup of coffee. He turned, faintly recognizing him as the man who had been out with Shepard that day they had found the girl. He took the cup of coffee and nodded a silent thanks.

The stars were bright against the dark horizon. From up here even the sounds of the dead were drowned out. 

"You from around here?" The officer prodded, trying to make small talk. Morgan didn't like small talk. But for now, he supposed he would play along. 

"Nah. Lived over in Kings county." Morgan took a sip and turned to him. "How 'bout you?" He could play this game too.

"Born and raised in Boston." He pushed up a sleeve on his uniform to reveal a tattoo of an Irish flag with something about brothers of Boston written in loopy letters below. He pulled the sleeve back down. "Moved out here just before it all happened. Kind of one of those once-in-a-lifetime offers you can't refuse, know what I mean?" The officer chuckled. "Probably the best damn decision I ever made though, coming here. Still standing. Still alive. Felt guilty for a while but... Guess sometimes you just gotta believe maybe it's fate, you know?"

Morgan didn't respond. He just let those words rattle around in his brain. Fate? Is that what he though this was? Morgan suddenly felt uncomfortable with this guy's blasé attitude. 

Morgan decided to change the subject. "Y'all knew the girl. How'd she get shot?"

The blunt question took the officer somewhat by surprise. But he looked Morgan straight in the eye and vaguely recounted what happened. 

"She made a dumb move. Got shot. Wasn't any of us, if that's what you're wondering. The one who shot her is dead." He stared back at Morgan.

Morgan could feel there might be something more, but he wasn't going to press it. Not now. He could tell he had gotten the truth, or most of it, and that was good enough for the time being.

The officer was done with this conversation for now. He finished his coffee and walked over to the ledge, crumpled the styrofoam cup in one hand and released it to float down into the littered street below. 

-:-:-:-:-:-

Beth was finally sitting up. It ended up that she actually preferred the taste of vanilla pudding. But chocolate wasn't that bad either. 

She had finished her broth and was now pushing her food around her plate. It was some kind of meat she didn't recognize. She peeled a bit off the bone and put it in her mouth. She chewed slowly, trying to decide if she could stomach it, let alone like it. 

Officer Shepard was passing through the hall and for the briefest moment made eye contact with Beth, to which Beth smiled. She recognized her and didn't feel any warning bells going off when trying to remember any of their previous interactions. Shepard stopped and walked to the door, just short of actually going inside Beth's room.

"I see they finally brought you something. Must be starving."

Beth held up her fork with the meat and tilted her head and wrinkled her nose. 

Shepard laughed. "You get used to it, after a while."

Beth was still inspecting the strange stringy protein. "What is it?"

"Do you really wanna know?"

Beth nodded.

"Guinea pig." 

Beth made a noise and stuck out her tongue and both of them burst into a fit of laughter.  
Beth felt a little more at ease. She liked Shepard. She was nice. She reminded her of Maggie. Pretty. Kind eyes. But tough. 

"Hey, it's better than starving. Not like we have many other options."

Beth perked up. "I can hunt. I mean. I know how. I could probably try and find a deer or something for ya'll. Outside the city that is."

Beth knew they were being more than generous in taking care of her like this. However she was still unsure how it worked her now that Dawn was out of the picture.

Shepard shifted her feet and looked out the window at the deteriorating buildings.

"Just... focus on feeling better first." Her words were sincere. "Maybe try walking a little before you go offering to get out there and track down dinner." She grinned at Beth and after another moment slipped out of the room.

At that same moment Beth looked up to see a man she didn't recognize talking to Edwards. He looked back at her and once his conversation seemed to be over, he began to walk away.

"Hey!" She called as he passed by her room.  
The man stopped. With a huge smile on her face, she greeted him warmly. "I don't think I met you before. I'm Beth Greene." She lifted the arm with her cast and daintily waved.

The man waved back. "Morgan. Morgan Jones."

Beth grinned from ear to ear. "Then you're the one I owe a great deal of thanks to. I hear I was a goner if you hadn'ta found me."

Morgan answered plainly. "Just right place, right time 'sall."

"Still. I owe you." She looked at him with a radiant smile. This girl didn't have a bad bone in her body. 

He was about to walk away when she spoke up again. "Um... Just, before you go? Could you do me a quick favor?"

Morgan looked at her and waited. 

"Could you help me get to the bathroom? Please? Or, um, I guess I can just..." She began to attempt to swing her legs off of the bed and lost her balance. 

Morgan was right there at her side, catching her before she toppled onto the floor.

"Thanks." She hated feeling vulnerable, but she knew for a while she might need SOME sort of assistance, so she swallowed her pride and allowed herself to be held up by her elbows. Her legs felt heavy and numb, but she took the feel of the cold floor against her bare feet as a reassuring sign that she probably wasn't paralyzed. Step by step he assisted her to the bathroom door. 

"Thanks, I think I can handle it from here." She smiled that huge smile at him again and before he could walk out she opened the door just a bit and asked "Can you stay? For just a few minutes? Think I might need help back."

"Course." He replied and sat back down in the chair next to her bed.

Turning on a lantern that had been sitting on the counter, the small room gradually filled with a warm dim light. She mentally prepared herself to look into the mirror for the first time and inspect her face. Her stitches were itching something fierce. She supposed they could probably come out now. Reaching under the sink she found a small first aid kid with some fresh bandages, gauze, and suture scissors. 

She looked at the scissors and shook her head. "Dumb," She muttered to herself as she remembered what she had done. Lifting the scissors to her cheek she began the process of one by one removing the stitches. When she was done she inspected her work. Her fingers patted the pink raised scars. She thought about how different they made her look. But right now she wasn't quite sure it was a good different or a bad different. She was still ambivalent. She pushed her thoughts aside to focus on her head. That bandage was a little more tricky. Dried blood stuck to her hair and made it painful to pull off. Layer after layer, she carefully removed the gauze. Finally, she worked the last piece free. The entry wound itself didn't seem too bad. However she couldn't see the exit wound, which she assumed might look a little worse. The wound on her forehead was small and round with a puckered red center that still looked like it was in the first days of healing. The rest of her forehead and side of her face was covered in a severely deep red bruise. Unrolling some clean gauze, she went to work cleaning it and covering it back up.

After finally finishing up in the bathroom, she opened the door. Morgan, who had fallen asleep, shot his eyes wide open upon hearing her. He got up her back into bed.

"Thanks. Sorry I took so long."

"Nah, 's ok." Gave me time to read for a bit. He held the book up that Edwards had left and that Beth, too, had been reading. 

She made a face as she adjusted herself, getting comfortable once again on what appeared to be fresh sheets. Did he do that? She'd have to thank him later for that too.

"How do like it? I thought it was a bit... Strange?"

Morgan chuckled and set the book down. "Ain't bad... Actually kind of reminded me of someone I used to know." He thought about Rick. About the prison. About the community Rick said he had built there.

"Funny. I thought the same thing." Beth was giving that giant smile again. "But then I guess with everything in life you try and connect it to something real. Makes it have more meaning. Or something like that." Sometimes she felt like she just rambled on.

Beth was growing tired. Morgan looked at her one last time and gave the first real smile she'd seen him give. 

"Should get your sleep. Hear you wanna go hunting soon? Can't get better without your rest." Morgan got up and left the room, shutting the door gently behind him so that she could have her privacy. 

Beth found herself wondering where Daryl might be. She had this strange need to go hunting just to prove to herself she had actually learned something from him. She wanted to make him proud. Visions of her and Daryl running through the woods together flashed through her mind as she finally closed her eyes and let sleep take her.


	4. Hurt

Daryl stared out the window. It had been 3 days since Grady. They were on the road again. Headed to Richmond. But he didn't really care. It didn't matter. Sure he was alive. But he was barely living.

After everything. After he ran through the night. After Joe and his gang. After Terminus. God, Terminus. He was ready to die that day. Told God he was ready to go if it meant Beth was ok. But she wasn't. 

He closed his eyes and fought sleep. Sleep brought the dreams. It wasn't that he didn't want to see her in his dreams. It was that feeling after he woke up and his mind had to adjust to her not being there. 

He wished he could get lit. Push it all away. Yeah, gettin' lit might not even do the trick. Might only remind him of Beth again. 

He felt the car start to pull off the road. There were a few cars blocking the highway. Good. He didn't want to be stuffed up in this piece of shit tin can any longer than he had to.

Rick got out and cautiously looked around. There were no signs of walkers, but they were in unknown territory. 

"Keep your eyes out. Carl, stay in the van with Judith." Carl wasn't going to protest. 

Daryl got out of the car and looked up at the green sign next to the road. 'South Carolina Welcomes You' it read. Daryl let out a scoff and made a b-line straight for the woods without so much as a glance back. 

"Daryl." Rick called out. But Daryl was gone-- already hidden by the darkness behind the thick treeline. "Damnit." He slammed the door in frustration. 

Rick knew Daryl was having a rough time. But he was being stupid. They couldn't go chasing him down if something happened and they needed to leave quickly.

"Let 'im go. Got enough of us to start clearin these out on our own. Shouldn't take long," Abraham said, motioning towards the cars that were zig zagged across the highway for a few hundred yards. 

Tara spoke up. "Me and Rosita can start checking them. See if there's anything we can use."

Rick nodded. "Thanks." He looked towards the van. "How's she doin'?" He said, referring to Maggie.

"Glenn's laying down with her in the back. She hasn't eaten and she's still crying. Hasn't said a word all day," Tara shrugged, looking back towards the van and wishing there was something more they could do to make Maggie feel better.

Rick looked to Tara and just nodded once more. "Thanks..." He tilted his head and looked into the distance. The sun was still high in the sky. He walked to the first car, climbed in, threw it in neutral and began pushing it off the road.

Meanwhile in the woods, Daryl was unsuccessfully attempting to shoot some squirrels. This is what he was. This is how he contributed. Kept them fed. Kept little asskicker from going hungry. 

He lined up a squirrel in his sights. He missed. After a few minutes he tracked another. Missed again. He was fighting off a deep growl. 

"The fucks wrong with you?" He heard Merle's voice chastise him in his head. "Third times a charm, baby brother."

He tried to focus. He breathed. Let the bolt fly. Missed. His patience was non-existent now. He growled in frustration and made one more half-ass attempt at the little bastards for a fourth time. 

That was when he finally lost it. He chucked his crossbow into the woods, walked right up to the tree he had be aiming at and yanked out the bolt. Without thinking about the consequences of his actions, he angrily snapped it in half over his knee. He dropped the pieces where he stood. He looked down at the broken bolt. Out of breath and blind with anger, he left it and went off to go find where his crossbow landed. Not only was he returning without any food, but he was down a bolt too.

Tyreese had helped them push the last car out of the way when Daryl returned. Everyone looked toward him, and Daryl could tell they were expecting to see a few squirrels on his belt, but no one said anything. He walked back to the car, got in and slammed the door.

Deciding that they had scavenged all they could from these vehicles, Rick got in the drivers seat and nodded to Abraham through the side mirror. Everyone was accounted for.

They headed out once again. Hundreds of miles still between them and their destination: Richmond, VA.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Laughter filled the small hospital room. It had been almost a week and Morgan was still at Grady. Other than keeping Beth company, he took on the responsibility of clearing the walkers from the basement and fixing the fence just outside the main entrance.

"Check." Beth moved her Queen across the board. 

Morgan blocked his King with a pawn. 

"Check, again." Beth moved her Queen again, taking out the pawn. 

Morgan thought about his next move. He was never great at chess. Beth sure seemed to outnumber him in terms of pieces on the board. He moved his castle down the board in front of his King.

"Are you gonna sacrifice everything you got before you finally give up?" Beth smiled. 

She decided against taking his castle and moved her horse around another piece instead. "Check mate." She grinned.

Morgan sat looking at the board wondering how he hadn't seen that move.

"Glenn, my... Um... My brother-in-law. He taught me. I used to watch him play with my daddy. He said that when some people feel cornered, they get desperate and they start sacrificing their pieces. Pieces they don't think matter." She held up a pawn. "When they start to think the little guys don't matter..." She held up the horse. "That's when they stop paying attention to who really poses a threat." She grinned wide and just watched him.

Morgan wondered if this girl knew just how insightful she was. She smiled and set the horse back down, looking back at the board and taking in her achievement at beating him once again. 

Together they put the pieces back in the box and folded the wooden board up. 

Beth sat up and extended her hands. "Help me walk around for a little bit?" 

Morgan gently took her hands and pulled her up. She bent over and touched her toes, then stood up straight and tall and stretched her arms toward the ceiling. She was gaining strength in her legs but they were still a little weak from laying in bed all the time. He let her lean on him for support as they walked out of the room and down the hall. 

The mood in the hospital was so different from what Beth remembered of her first day there. People were nice to her. Said hi to her every chance they got. The place seemed almost... normal. 

But it wasn't, of course. There were still strict rations imposed on the other wards for meals. The officers did most of the work, so the officers got most of the food. The one thing that had changed though, was they weren't taking people against their will. No one had left, but no one but her and Morgan had arrived either. 

Beth had a guilty feeling that she needed to start pulling her weight. For now, there was an unspoken agreement between her and Morgan where he would give her a bit of his meals every day. He didn't mind. And she was grateful. She didn't want to ask for too much knowing that she was just cooped up in her room while everyone else contributed. She kept Morgan company, talked to him, told him about everything she had learned from her daddy the vet. He seemed interested in any and all knowledge she had about substitutions for medicines and what kind of antibiotics were safe. She knew he didn't need to be here. But for some reason he continued to stick around. 

Beth got to the end of the hall and looked up at him with questioning eyes. She didn't have to ask.

"Don't look at me. You push yourself as far as you wanna go." 

Morgan was so patient with her. She was very grateful for everything everyone had done for her. She reached out for the handrail and proceeded to take her first step down the stairs. Then the next. A huge grin spread across her face as she realized she was able to support most of her own weight.

"Soon you won't need me at all," Morgan joked.  
Beth had neared the bottom but at Morgan's words she froze. 

Daryl. She thought of how she said that exact thing to Daryl before. Suddenly her eyes began to fill with tears. Some days were easier than others. Today was not one of those days. She sucked in a breath. They were gone. All of them. She was alive but the chances of her ever seeing them again were slim to none.

"I think we should go back now," she said quietly, trying not to give away her sudden sadness. 

They turned back around and made their way back to her room. Morgan immediately noticed her change in demeanor. The entire way back she wouldn't even lift her head to look at him. 

When they got to her room she stopped him at the door and softly said, "I got it from here, thanks," and shut the door.

Morgan wasn't going to argue with her. She was a grown woman who had been through a lot. All miracles aside, he knew she was painstakingly alone in this world. Kind of like him. But he knew his family was dead and gone. Hers were just... Gone. He knew what loneliness did to people. How dangerous losing hope could be. She was too good to go down that path. He wanted to leave the hospital and get back on the road but he felt a pang of guilt at leaving her behind.

As he walked down the hall thinking about what might make her feel a little better, he overheard Shepard arguing over a radio. Apparently one of their officers was trapped in a store a few blocks away.

Shepard caught his eye. "Hey, Morgan..." She wasn't sure if he had heard most of her conversation or not. "I hate to ask but... We're a little short handed here and you..."

Morgan put his hand up and cut her off. "Where's he at? How many?"

Shepard pulled out a map of downtown Atlanta and laid it across the desk. She pointed to a spot on the map. "We're here. He's here." She traced her finger just a few inches away. 

Definitely less than a mile. But a mile on foot in downtown Atlanta was more than dangerous. Morgan looked down at the map. It seemed easy enough. 

"But there's about, two dozen?" Shepard looked at him as if she expected him to say no. 

Morgan rubbed his chin. That was a lot of walkers for just one person to take out. His eyes scanned the room and landed on an alarm clock. He walked over to it and picked it up. "Mind if I take this?"

Shepard looked at him unsure of why he was asking and just shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah, I guess."

Morgan took one last look at the map, memorizing the multiple routes to get there and then promptly left and headed towards the stairs.

His walk there was pretty easy. He snuck around buildings and tried not to draw too much attention to himself. Peeking around the last corner Morgan spotted the group of walkers Shepard had been talking about. There was a couple dozen, actually maybe more, pushing themselves against a door. Just by looking at the lack of exits he knew this guy had really gotten himself in a pickle. It was stupid, going into a place like that. And apparently his partner had taken off at the first sign of trouble. 

Morgan studied the building. It was a pawn shop, most likely raided and picked over plenty of times before. No doubt it would be close quarters in there. 

He took the alarm clock out of his pack and jogged down the opposite side of the street. He set it down on the hood of a car and adjusted the settings on the alarm so that it would go off two minutes later. 

He moved back across the street and waited. 

Cutting through the moans, the alarm finally began to wail. Walkers looked up in the direction of the noise and began to abandon their attempts to get into the pawn shop.

After most of them had been drawn away, Morgan got his knife out and snuck over to the entrance, quickly taking care of the half dozen walkers that were still left. 

He stopped and announced himself. Last thing he needed was to get shot by this guy on accident. "It's Morgan, I'm coming in. Don't shoot. Shepard sent me to help you get out of here." 

He pushed the rotted wooden door open and let his eyes adjust to the darkness of the room. There were water logged magazines, stereo systems, and all sorts of other junk strewn about. 

Why this guy had even attempted to come in here he had no idea. He made his way to the back office and nudged the door open carefully. 

There in the corner was a young cop, head between his legs and curled in on himself, holding his 9 mm in his right hand.

"Hey." Morgan said gently, not wanting to frighten him.

The officer looked up at him surprised. 

"You ready to go or are we gonna wait around for them to come back?" Trying to lighten the mood he smirked at the officer who he could tell had been crying. Hell. Trapped by that many walkers anyone would feel helpless. 

The officer got up and grabbed a bag near the door. 

"Lets go." Morgan turned to head out but as he did, something under a turned over shelf caught his eye. He remembered something Beth had mentioned to him a few days ago and without thinking twice, he picked up the object and a few things next to it, throwing it all in a large duffle bag. 

With that, the two of them were off, making their way the long way back to Grady.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Tara watched as everyone settled down to sleep. They were making good time and were already in North Carolina. But the more east they traveled the more dangerous their journey seemed to be. 

Rosita came and sat next to her and held out the rest of her meager portion of canned beans. "Here, can't eat these anymore," she offered.

"Ooo my favorite!" Tara grinned.

Rosita jabbed her in the ribs with her elbow and rolled her eyes.

There were a couple minutes of silence and then Rosita spoke up "Maybe Daryl will catch something tonight?"

They looked at each other but Tara didn't offer any commentary on the subject, instead just fumbling around with the spoon in the can. The group was lucky enough to come across a case of beans a few days ago and that was all they had eaten since. It was times like this they realized just how much they had come to depend on the hunter.

Daryl was out in the woods by himself again tonight. But despite what people thought, he wasn't hunting. Wasn't even gonna try. He sat at the base of a tree, carving lines into the giant roots sticking out of the ground. He took out a cigarette and lit it, sucking in the dry, stale tobacco and then let the smoke out through his nose. 

How did they get here? What the fuck was he doing? After about a minute he heard rustling in the leaves and a single walker appeared out of the darkness. Daryl didn't even make an attempt to move or get up. He just stared the miserable fuck down. He let the decayed corpse fall on top him before he shoved his knife through the base of its skull. 

It stunk. It smelled like death. But Daryl didn't want to move it. He dropped his arms to his sides and put his head back against the tree and gave in to sleep for a while.


	5. Decision

Daryl heard her before he saw her but didn't move. He could tell them all by just their footsteps. Chunky and slow were Rick's. Quick and cat-like were Michonne's. Loud and bumbling were Eugene's. These were light but firm. He squeezed his eyes tight, unwilling to come to grips with reality just yet. He was not in the mood for being chastised. 

"We were worried about you this morning." Carol appeared from behind the tree and looked down at him with a stern face. Even though she couldn't see his eyes, hidden underneath his shaggy hair, she knew he was awake. To say he was a light sleeper was an understatement.

After about a minute without any reaction, she gently kicked the shoe of the dead walker that was still laying on top of him. "I see you made a new friend."

Daryl unceremoniously pushed the walker off of him and got up. Without saying a word, he picked up his crossbow, slung it over his shoulder, and headed back in the direction of the group's camp.

Carol didn't say anything and just watched him go. She didn't want to push him. Looking down, she noticed the roots of the tree were practically hacked to bits. If one could guess, he had probably spent most of the night here. She sighed thinking about just how painful this was for him.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Beth woke up feeling a little more energized. Every day was getting better and better. Today she was determined to make it down the hall by herself. No more depending on people. She could do this.

It was barely past dawn when she poked her head out of her room to look around. Besides one or two officers in the office at the end of the hall, it seemed relatively quiet. 

She slipped through the door and put her hand on the wall for support. 

"Breathe. Just breathe, Beth. One step at a time. You can do this." She told herself.

Slowly but surely she made her way down the hall and to the foot of the stairs. She looked to her left, the stairs that would lead her down to the cafeteria, and to the right, the stairs that would lead up, eventually to the roof. She made her choice and began the accent. 

The sun was completely up over the horizon by the time she pushed the clunky metal door to the roof open. She squinted at the overwhelming brightness.

"Well look who's up and about." She heard a familiar voice say.

She let the door shut and walked over to the mid-point of the roof. There she saw Morgan, rummaging through a large black bag she had never seen him with before.

"Mornin'," she forced a small smile. "What are you doin' up here so early?"

Morgan looked up at her and gave a big smile. A big, genuine smile that took her back and made her momentarily wonder if he had gone crazy. 

"Come on. Got something to show you." He got up and motioned for her to follow him to the long side of the roof-- the part that had all the steam vents and air intakes every couple feet. When they got to the end she saw 3 targets nailed to 3 wooden posts of various distances.  
"What are these for? Trying to call every walker in the city down on us doin' target practice up here now?" She asked sarcastically. 

Morgan chuckled and shook his head. "No. Not me." He paused for a minute and then pointed to her. "You. You need some practice before you take me huntin'."

Beth looked confused. Before she could protest Morgan disappeared behind a corner. Not a minute later he reappeared with something in his hands. Not just any something Beth realized, but a bow.  
She was unsure of how to feel, and her facial expression started to give Morgan second thoughts on whether or not this was a good idea. But then she broke out into that huge brilliant smile that could light up the world on a rainy day.

She walked up to him, her eyes taking in the beautiful weapon he was holding. All black. Sleek. Different from what Daryl had but it looked just as powerful.

"I know it ain't exactly what you said you had before," Morgan admitted as he handed it over to her. 

She hadn't told him about Daryl, only that she had learned to hunt a bit with a crossbow. But this was no crossbow. 

"It's a compound bow. Got a bunch of stuff that was with it. Even a book. You're smart, thought you could read up on it and figure it all out. Even got you enough arrows to hopefully last you awhile." He showed her a couple boxes that had been tossed into the black bag along with various other objects that looked like spare parts and extra strings.

She didn't say anything as she took the bow in her hands, pulling on it to get a feel for it. 

Morgan rummaged through the bag and pulled out a book titled Mastering Compound Bows and handed it to her.

Beth took the book and looked up at him.  
"Thank you." She gave a faint smile. 

She didn't know what else to say. A big part of her wished her and Daryl could have come across somewhere and he could have given her a crossbow. Maybe just like his but smaller? She wasn't sure.

Morgan saw the conflict all over her face. "Just try it out, maybe it ain't so bad?"

Beth took one of the arrows and fiddled with the bow to see how it held in place. She turned around to face one of the targets. She stretched the string to get a feel for what the pull was like. Trying to remember what Daryl taught her about her breathing and her stance, she considered if that was all even relevant now. Rolling her shoulders back and squaring them up, she focused on the target. She pulled back and held her breath. One, two.... She released the arrow and her breath at the same time and watched the arrow fly a good two feet too low of its intended target. 

She walked up to fetch it. She picked it up and marked an "X" in the grime on the roof to note where it had landed. 

With that, Morgan smiled and politely left her alone.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Beth didn't leave the roof all day. Twice Morgan brought her up food and water. When the sun finally began to set he came up a third time. She was currently taking a break, nose buried in that book. 

"So what do you think? Not doing so bad on your feet. Think in a day or two we can go out, try and get us something else to eat besides those overgrown hamsters?" 

Beth giggled and closed the book. "Hope so. I think I'm getting the hang of it. But moving targets are a whole different ball game." 

She smiled and remembered fondly back to a time when she had been eager to use Daryl's crossbow to catch them something. It had taken quite a lot of patience and nearly a whole day but Beth finally caught them a rabbit for dinner. She remembered looking in Daryl's eyes seeing how proud (and relieved) he was. 

Beth's daydream was suddenly interrupted by the sound of the roof door being opened. She involuntarily shivered as the memories of her time with Daryl left too soon and too suddenly.

Beth turned to take aim once again, trying to ignore the tears threatening to fall from her eyes. She missed it. She missed being out there. With him. She missed everyone really. But mostly him.

"You're healing quickly," Dr Edwards suddenly said, startling Beth and causing her arrow to miss and fly wide of its intended target. 

She stood there still holding the bow up looking straight in front of her.

Edwards put his hands in his pockets and sat on a slab of concrete next to her. "Sorry. Didn't mean to surprise you..."

"You didn't." Beth turned to him. "Surprise me, I mean." She looked him straight in the eyes. "It's just... You said that before." Her tone was almost pleading. 

They both looked at each other for a few seconds before Beth turned to go retrieve her arrows. 

"Anyway, I guess I gotta get used to distractions." She smiled at Morgan who was still propped against a wall just watching her. 

She finished picking up her arrows and returned to the designated spot where she had been aiming from.

"I can take that cast off for you. You don't seem to be having any trouble moving your wrist now." Edwards sat picking at his cuticles, barely making eye contact.

Beth turned to him again. "Thanks," she softly replied, looking at him once more before deciding to lower her bow and sit across from him.

She rolled her eyes. "What's wrong? I didn't do anything. You're up here for somethin'. So what? What is it? I owe you, I know..." Before she could continue Edwards looked up and cut her off.

"No. You don't. You don't owe me. You don't owe them." He looked towards the door that led back down from the roof. "Beth... If anything... we owe you. I owe you." 

Beth twisted her face in confusion. She wasn't expecting this admission.

Edwards could tell she had no idea what he was talking about. "What you did. To Dawn." He took a breath and looked at her with sincerity. "You saved us. All of us. And after it happened. After you..." He couldn't find the right words. He looked toward Morgan and then back to Beth. "You came back. You came back and it was like..." He held up his hands and looked to the sky. There was no way he could express that her return was by anything other than divine intervention. He put his hands back down on his knees and looked straight at her again. "There isn't anything I can say to ever express how truly sorry I am for what you had to go through. For what you're still going through."

Beth just stared. They both stared at each other. Then without thinking Beth reached out and hugged him. "Thank you," she whispered.

Edwards was stock still at first and then gently returned the hug. 

They embraced for a few moments longer and then Beth broke the hug and smiled. 

"She was a good person, you know? I just think... I think this place can be good? There's just gotta be... A balance. You gotta talk to the officers." 

Edwards took a breath but before he could get a word out Beth cut him off. "They'll listen to you. You gotta start letting the others help. They can help. No one should be a burden." She had intensity in her eyes as she pleaded with him.

Edwards matched her gaze and then suddenly stood up and put his hands on his hips, looking out toward the wasted cityscape. 

"You're wrong." He turned toward her for a split second. Before Beth could protest he continued, "It should be you. They trust you. They trust Morgan." He looked to Morgan who was trying to remain as impassive as possible. "It should be you. Both of you."

Beth looked down at the small rocks in front of her boots and pushed them around. 

"I don't think... I don't think I'm gonna stay here." She twisted her fingers nervously in her hands. That was the first time she had admitted it out loud. Even to herself. 

"I think I... I think I need to be out there. I just... I don't know how to explain it. I feel like I should be out there."

Edwards, who hand begun pacing the edge of the roof turned and faced her. "It's dangerous out there. Your people, if they are still out there..."

"They are." Beth insisted.

"Even if they are, the chances of you finding them now..."

Beth shook her head. "I gotta try."

Edwards was frustrated now. He continued pacing. Had this girl learned anything? She had almost died. She was brought back here just to... Just to what? Just to go back out there on a fool's errand? He took a deep breath and turned to her. 

"Do you even know where they could be? Do you know... if they are even anywhere near here? Or if they're even alive? You don't. Nobody does. You should stay here. It's safer here."

Beth was getting angry. She stood up and began pacing herself. Thinking about all the things he just said. It was true. Most of it. But it wasn't all true. It wasn't safer here. It wasn't safe anywhere really. Sure they had walls... 

"Walls..." She barely got the words out and almost choked at her next thought. "Walls!" 

Her eyes widened at the thought. "You said Noah left with them right? That he left with the people who came to get me? And Carol?" She walked straight up to Edwards and looked at him dead on.

"Yeah... He... He was with them...?" He replied confused.

Beth could tell he had no idea what she was getting at. 

"Noah said he came from a place with walls... From Richmond. He was from Richmond, Virginia. They could have taken him there!" She was almost in a panic now.

"Richmond is... It's nearly 500 miles from here." Edwards shook his head. He could tell what she was getting at. "There was a dozen of them. Even if you did... You can't do it alone."

He continued to shake his head, seemingly arguing with himself over what he was about to say next. He paused and looked at her. "I'll go with you. I'll go with you if that's what you really want. We can ask the others. Maybe not everyone but... I'm sure there will be others too. You can't go alone." 

Morgan looked between the two and without thinking twice spoke up.

"I'll go too. Had family up there once. Know a bit of the area."

The weight of what they were suggesting began to sink in. Beth didn't know what else to do but nod.

If she was going to do this, if she was going to make this journey, she needed them.


	6. Tracks

The tapping filled her ears and annoyed her. Out of her peripheral vision Beth could see Shepard drumming her fingers on her gun in its holster. She stared at her. Watched her watching the other officers at the table. Was she nervous? Agitated? Beth thought she was pretty good at reading people but she had realized Shepard was a hard read. At first she had seemed just shocked at their plans. But over the past 24 hours her mood had changed. Like she was preoccupied but wouldn't tell anyone what with. 

They were all meeting again to discuss the journey to Richmond. It was decided that Beth, Morgan, and Edwards would go, and whoever else wanted to join them could go too. 

"Derrick and Rose are the only ones that have shown an interest so far," one of the officers chimed in.

"No one else?" Shepard asked, seemingly genuinely concerned.

"No. Most of them don't want to risk it. They haven't been out there for a while. I don't want to risk it, but I want to go. If they made it- I want to know," officer Tanaka looked to Beth for her response.

She took in a breath. "We don't need much. Morgan and I can go out scoutin', start stockpiling. Take us maybe..." She looked at Morgan, "A week? Two, tops."

"I'm not sure we can spare the guns, or the ammo for that matter," Shepard countered.

"We wouldn't need much. I thought maybe one or two guns, at least one for myself and Dr. Edwards." Beth looked to him as he figeted uncomfortably in his chair. She looked to him now, intent on reassuring him of his decision to go. "I can take you outside the city first, get you used to firing. It ain't that bad. You gotta be able to defend yourself."

Edwards didn't say anything. He just continued to look between the pairs of eyes around the room. He was out of his element here. He knew what they were all thinking. What was he doing even attempting to go with them? He'd fired a gun less than a dozen times since this had all started. He wasn't equipped to handle living outside the confines of the hospital. 

Shepard turned and faced Beth again. "We barely have enough rounds as it is. You can take two of the guns, but you're on your own for ammo," she looked to the other officers at the table for their agreement. "We just can't spare it."

Beth wanted to object. But what were her grounds? She bit her bottom lip and looked towards the floor, trying to fight off the urge to argue. Gripping the edge of the chair, she tried to think of where there might still be ammo nearby. Everything was picked over. The pawn shop that Morgan had told her about was a maybe, but that was in an area that was a notoriously dangerous part of the city due to the amount of walkers that always seemed to be lingering nearby. And it had pretty much been picked clean the last time someone had checked it out.

"I got a place." Morgan said quietly, almost under his breath. Everyone looked up at him, unsure if they had heard him correctly. "Ain't been there for a while, but... at one time I was hiding stuff all over. Good chance most of it's probably still there."

Beth's eyes lit up like it was Christmas morning. "Is it far? Could we go there?"

Morgan held his chin in one hand and rubbed the coarse hairs there, pondering what he was about to say next. "Ain't far. But if it's still there, I'm gonna wanna make a trip to see someone. Someone I know could use the rest. Can't take it all. Don't know if he's still there but I'm not gonna just leave it if we're gonna be heading to Richmond." No one asked who this mystery person was that he was talking about, and he didn't offer any more information on the subject.

Everyone that had gathered at the table looked at each other but nobody said a word. They were all on the edge of the unknown. It was like the slow climb of a rollarcoaster cranking to the top. Not everyone was on this ride, but they were all nervous for the drop.

Beth's voice meekly broke through the silence. "Well... I better get some sleep." She stood up and collected her dinner plate. "Going huntin' in the morning. Gonna need to practice more before we head out." She looked down at the tiny picked-over bones leftover in her hand and then back up to Shepard who was now looking even more exasperated with the situation. "And maybe get some rabbits for everyone before I leave."

She forced a smile and then turned and left the office.

-:-:-:-:-:-

It was still dark out when Beth and Morgan left the next morning. They took two cars, Beth following Morgan the entire time. It was strange at first, driving by herself. There wasn't a radio to listen to and there were no CD's available, so she hummed for a while and then eventually began singing like it was the most normal thing in the world. 

She was vaguely familiar with this highway. Remembered it from a long time ago when she would go into Atlanta with her parents to visit Maggie. Maggie. Her mind drifted to what Maggie might be doing or thinking right now. A pain in her chest told her that Maggie woulf be glad to know she wasn't the last of the Greene's. The last of their family. It had taken her a while for that to really settle in. Out of everyone- aunts, uncles, and cousins- they were probably the last one's left. If she really thought about it, the Greene family name had died a long time ago with Shawn. Maggie would always be a Greene. But would she call herself a Rhee now? Maggie had Glenn. And Beth. Beth had... Well Beth had no one now. She squinted her eyes and shook the thought out of her head just as Morgan pulled over to the side of the road in front of her. They were a good 15 miles outside the city now. 

Opening the car door she looked around. The air was warm and dry, and again, there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Strange, she thought. It was always after these periods of severe drought that a bad summer storm would blow through. Beth made a mental note to watch the sky for any signs of the weather turning. 

Morgan smiled as he got out of his car, stopping to pop the trunk and pull out the packs he had brought for them. It included small quick and easy pop-up tent, some light blankets, a couple cans of various legumes, and their lifesaver-- a perimeter alarm to go around their camp. 

"You look happy this morning," Beth cocked an eyebrow and grinned at him.

"It's a beautiful day," Morgan beamed back.

Beth nodded her head in agreement and put her hands over her eyes, scanning the horizon to watch the sun coming up in the distance. Birds were already singing and chattering in the trees. Any other day, they might just be two old friends heading out to go camping.

She took her pack from him and hoisted it on her back, adjusting the straps for comfort. It wasnt too big, but her body would need to get used to the added weight.

"Hold on, you're missing something." Morgan walked to the edge of the treeline, putting his hand on a few saplings while Beth looked on like he had lost his mind. He snapped a large branch off one of them and pulled his knife out to hack away at it. He walked back and handed the large stick to Beth, amusement in his eyes.

"What's this for?" She looked it with curiosity.

"Stability. Speed. Safety. Keeps you balanced, less strain on your legs and your feet. Also helps you move faster. And it ain't bad for keeping walkers at arm's length too." He held his own hiking stick up and jokingly nudged her away from him with the end of it.

She tested the weight and jabbed it into the rocky soil once or twice before deciding it wasn't so bad.

"Well?" Morgan said.

"Well what?" Beth replied confused.

"You gonna get to trackin' us some lunch?" He laughed and smiled at her.

This was nice, Beth thought as she smiled to herself. It was good to be out here again. This was going to be good. She could sense it. She grabbed her new bow from the backseat and shut the car door. 

Walking to the edge of the road she scanned the ground for anything she could recognize as a trail. After a few minutes she looked toward Morgan and pointed to the ground, then pointed towards the woods. 

"Lead the way," he said.

"Ok but the first thing you gotta learn is no talkin' while trackin' alright? And watch where you step. Not gonna catch anything if you scare it all away first." Beth smiled to herself as she followed the trail.

"You always this bossy?" He joked.

"Are you always this loud?" She quirked an eyebrow again, thinking this was probably payback for how irritating she must have been with Daryl those first few days they were on their own after the prison.

They walked at a good pace, eventually coming upon a small stream. Beth sat and watched, just like Daryl had told her. A good hour later, her patience paid off in the form of a very adorable but very fat rabbit appearing from under a bush. She quietly lifted her bow and took aim. 

"Got him!" She beamed after she released the arrow and saw the rabbit go down. 

They walked a little bit further into the woods and stopped at a small clearing. They made camp, and soon she was roasting the rabbit over a fire as Morgan strung up the perimeter alarm. 

"My old place ain't far. It's in town aways. Couple miles down." He paused to mull over what he would say next. "I ain't so sure you should come with me." He looked at her now with seriousness. "Some bad people were out by that town before. I had the place rigged. Don't want nothin happenin' so far away from the hospital. You're still healin'. Should stick around here. Hunt for a while. It'll only take me maybe a day. Probably be back here by tomorrow night. Morning after that- at most."

Nodding her head and turning the rabbit, Beth thought about it. She could do it. She could handle being out here on her own. They weren't far from the cars. She knew her way back to Grady. She had weapons, food...

"Don't really want to leave you out here alone though..." Morgan looked around at the camp still unsure. He seemed to be reading the hesitation in her expression.

"No! It's fine... It's just..." Beth paused and thought for a moment. She knew she would be fine. What was keeping her ambivalent was the thought that Morgan might not return. If he didn't return, would she go looking for him? She wanted to get back to Grady and on the road to Richmond as soon as they had what they needed. "How long should I wait? If you don't make it back?" 

He watched her as he let the words roll around in his head. He didn't want her to wait too long. If something happened to him, if he ran into bad people, it wouldn't be too long until they found her too. "If I don't come back," he started, "Then you get out of here. You go to Richmond. Ain't nothing good can come from you sticking around."

Beth nodded her head at that. She took the rabbit off the fire and inspected her work. Determining that it was indeed cooked enough, she set it to the side.

Morgan was right. If he didn't make it then someone, maybe someone far worse than the governor, was out there. 

Morgan rummaged through some of their supplies. "I'm not gonna leave you too much, just enough for you to carry. I'm gonna make my way back to the car and head out soon. Might rain tomorrow. If it does, don't stay, head back."

"Rain 'd make tracking useless anyways..." She said as she rolled her eyes. She looked at him and then her eyes drifted to the cooked rabbit. "You should take some. For the road." She pull a large portion off and stood up to hand it to him.

He looked at her and then the rabbit she had offered him and smiled. "Thank you." He took it, pulling a piece off to try it. "Not bad." He chewed and started to laugh. "Maybe before I come back you could catch us a couple more of these, maybe find some carrots, mushrooms..." 

"Ha ha." Beth rolled her eyes again and couldn't help but grin. "I'll see what I can find." She looked at her new friend and didn't know what else to say. She wasn't going to say goodbye. Without realizing what she was doing, she walked right up to him and put her arms around him. She could tell she surprised him with this gesture because she could feel he was holding his breath the entire time. "Be safe." She whispered.

Morgan gently lifted his arms up to return the hug. "You too."

Beth let him go and took a step back. Morgan nodded and picked up his walking stick and turned to head back towards the cars.

Beth watched him disappear and the turned to eat what was left of the rabbit. After she had finished, she looked up at the sky. Clouds were gathering but it didn't look like it was threatening rain yet. Morgan was probably right. It might rain tomorrow. If it rained, it meant she would have to head back to Grady without him. She didn't want to do that, but she knew it was dangerous and foolish to try and stay out here during a bad storm. Looking around her small camp she decided to go back to the stream and refill her canteen. Gotta stay hydrated, she thought. And animals stick close to the water. Maybe she could follow the stream for a ways and find some more rabbits. 

Beth added a little more kindling and dried sticks to her fire to keep it going while she was away. She put most of her things inside her tent, zipped it up and set off in the direction of the stream.

Noticing Morgan's tracks right away, she thought about what Daryl had taught her. Tracks tell a story. She saw how Morgan's strides were long. He favored his right foot. Every now and then there was a smudged print where maybe he had hesitated on which direction he was going to go, or maybe he had stopped to adjust his pack on his shoulders. 

Soon she came across where he had walked straight through the stream. She saw where he had knelt down on the other side, probably having the same idea to fill his canteen again, and then his tracks continued on.

Grabbing her canteen, she bent down to fill it. The water here was very clear with a mostly rocky bottom. She remembered what Daryl had taught here about how to tell when it was safe enough to drink. Deciding it was ok, she took a small sip. It was cool and refreshing. She washed the grime and blood off her hands, leftover from dressing the rabbit, and then splashed water on her face. It was nice. In Grady it was easy, almost too easy. They had stockpiles of water, rooms full still. Sure it was all rationed, but it was just there. Easy. Accessible. 

Still crouched, Beth scanned the ground for more tracks. After a few minutes she saw it. Deer tracks. A small fawn was her best guess. It would still be too much for her to carry on her own, but just tracking it would be a feat in itself. With her mind made up, she got up and pulled her bow from over her shoulder and began to slowly follow the tracks.

It was almost late afternoon and she still hadn't come upon that damn fawn. She was still following the tracks but had gone quite a ways into the woods. At this rate she figured she was probably a good five miles away from her camp. She thought about what Daryl would say. "Wasting your time Greene," he would have chastised her for going this far. How long ago had those tracks been there? She bent down to feel the dirt. Hard. The tracks could be over a day old. She huffed and turned to head back in the direction of her camp. Stupid, she thought. She had chased day old tracks for nothing.

When she finally came upon the stream again she instantly froze. There were new tracks. Boot tracks. Large boot tracks. Beth immediately backed up and hid herself behind a tree. She peeked out and scanned the area for any signs of who they might belong to.

The new tracks were just a few feet away from Morgan's. But they weren't Morgan's. Judging that it was safe for now, Beth stealthily walked over to inspect the new prints. It was a larger boot than Morgan's, but the impressions weren't as deep. The person was probably tall but skinny. The strides were long but they didn't look like they were moving fast. They were, however, headed in the direction of her camp. 

For a moment Beth thought of just abandoning her things. "No." She said out loud to herself. She gritted her teeth and held up her bow. She was not going to give up and just run away. It was only one person. She had the element of surprise. Walking a few yards downstream, she entered the tree line and headed in a roundabout direction to her camp.

It was just after sunset now and a 3/4's full moon was already out. Beth took her time, allowing her eyes to adjust to the darkness and waiting for the clouds to move so she could use the dim light of the moon to her advantage. She heard the crackle of the fire-- her fire-- and looked through the trees where she could see the vague figure of a man. He threw more sticks on the fire and seemed to be completely unaware of her presence. 'What is this idiot doing?', she thought. Who just goes into someone else's camp like this?

She slowly bent down and took a rock in her hand. She took a breath and closed her eyes. She threw it as hard as she could in the opposite direction. It crashed against other rocks on the ground, grabbing the attention of the man. He immediately stood and pulled out a gun. He turned his back to where Beth had been and faced the direction of where the rock landed.

Beth carefully stepped out from behind a tree.

"Drop it. Right now." She had an arrow pulled tight, ready to fire.

The man didn't turn at first. He didn't even move. 

"Now!" Beth was firm but not too loud.

After a minute, with his back still facing her, he tossed his gun a few feet away into a pile of leaves.

"The knife, too. In your left boot." This man was easily twice her size. She wasn't going to take any chances.

He bent down and lifted up his pant leg, revealing the handle of a large knife. "Smart woman," he suddenly said, his dripping with charm. He pulled the knife out and tossed it a few feet away as well.

"Stand up."

The man stood once again. 

"Put your hands up and turn and face me."

As he turned he put his hands up. He had dirty shaggy blonde hair that went to his shoulders. Hair covered most of his face but she could see a Cheshire smile and brilliantly white teeth staring back at her.

After another minute of silence he spoke up again. "You out here alone?"

"No."

There was another minute of silence with both of them staring at each other. Beth wanted to fire a bolt straight into his heart but a voice at the back of her head argued against it.

"Aren't you going to ask me if I'm alone?" The smile and shaggy hair asked.

"Don't have to ask. Only one set of prints leading back here." Beth was still straining to hold the bow up. 

The man's brilliant smile faded for a second and then morphed into a sly grin. "You were hunting me."

Beth didn't respond.

The man tossed his hair back to reveal his full face. There was a large scar on his forehead that Beth immediately thought looked like a W. He stared back at her with his hands still up in the air.

"What's that? On your face?" Beth asked, her expression completely devoid of any emotion.

"I could say the same for you." The man shot back.

"I asked first."

The man dropped his dark brown eyes to look at the fire for a second and then brought them right back up to meet Beth's. "I was part of a group. I am... part of a group. It's how we tell ourselves apart from others. How we know the good ones from..." He paused and his Cheshire smile was back. "The bad."

Beth was getting an uneasy feeling from him but she wasn't completely sure what it meant. She could shoot him now and be done with it. But he was alone. He didn't seem to be an immediate threat to her, so she played along for the time being.

"Your turn," the man said.

"My turn for what?" Beth replied stoically. 

"Your turn to tell me how you got that," he was looking straight at Beth's bullet wound. 

She had almost forgotten that she had taken off the bandage this morning. The wound was still a deep red circle with purplish bruising around it.

"I was shot. In the head. Any other questions?"

If it was possible for this guy to grin even further, he did. "Wow." He took a second to look her up and down, which caused Beth to get goosebumps. "So you're like, Wolverine, right?" He chuckled. "Super healing powers or something?"

"Or somethin'," Beth still held her bow up but her arms were beginning to shake a little at the strain of it.

"I'm Jamie, by the way," he said.

Beth thought about it. Something in her mind told her she needed to just trust him. He could have run. He probably could have shot her. Hell, he probably could have just tackled her to the ground if he was quick enough. But was the admiration in his eyes when she told him how she had been shot? After mulling it over she finally gave in and lowered her bow.

"Beth. Beth Greene." 

"Well hello Beth Greene." 

Suddenly a bright flash of light and a loud crack tore through the sky. Rain started to lightly fall. 

"Damnit," Beth growled in frustration, her attention going towards the sky.

Beth looked at the man and then to her tent. She couldn't stay here. Walkers moaned in the distance and the rain began to come down in sheets. More lightning cracked. She walked past the man and grabbed his knife from the ground, sticking it in her belt. She then turned and sorted through the leaves to find his gun. She opened it to check the ammo.

"Seriously? Nothin?" She said with wide eyes, shocked after realizing his gun wasn't even loaded. She scoffed and walked up to him and shoved the weapon into his chest. "Come on. Can't be out here to tonight." And turned to gather her supplies. 

The man looked at her with curiosity as she made quick work of picking up her camp. She was strange. But she was tough. And she had luck. Any other time and he could have shot her. He decided he would go with her for now. Find out more about her. About where she came from. She was shot in the head after all. She had to be pretty tough to be here after that.

Beth had finished gathering her things and was staring at him. She turned away and looked into the woods in the direction of the moans and then back at him. "You coming or staying?" She snapped at him.

The man pushed his long blonde hair over his head revealing that scar once again and stepped forward. 

"Lead the way." He grinned, showing off his unnecessarily too-perfect teeth.

Beth used her walking stick to press on, once again heading back in the direction of the stream and back towards the car.


End file.
